


What A Year Can Do

by GallifreyanFairytale



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-29
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-17 22:24:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15471414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GallifreyanFairytale/pseuds/GallifreyanFairytale
Summary: Regina Mills fled from New York as soon as she graduated from college and hid herself in a small town in the midwest, where her mother and her past would (hopefully) never find her. She became a teacher at an elementary school and adopted a baby boy.Robin Locksley moved to America from England after his wife left him with a five-year-old son. He was wary about moving to a small town practically in the middle of nowhere, but all of his worries seem to vanish when he meets his new co-workers.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I posted the first three chapters of this fic on Wattpad a while ago and then didn't update again (oops) because life got too crazy and whenever I had time to write, I had no ideas. So anyway, I've decided I'm going to try and finish all of my unfinished fics on Wattpad before I graduate in May and I figured I might as well post them here too since I've grown more comfortable with using this site. I'm planning on finishing this fic first since I know how many chapters it will be, and then I'll finish my other OQ fic which is currently only on Wattpad and also bring that one over here as well.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy! The next two chapters will be up in the next couple of days and hopefully another update will follow shortly!

_December 31, 2016_

The town isn't big. It's rather small compared to some. But it was home to Regina, and it had been ever since she had fled from her strict mother after finishing college. She figured a small house in the middle of nowhere, Indiana was a good choice.

Regina had adopted a son despite still being single, and he was in eighth grade now. Regina's mother had stopped talking to her, but Regina didn't care. She had found a family in Henry and her next door neighbors, Emma and Neal Cassidy, who were as good as Henry's second parents.

Winter was Regina's favorite season. It brought biting wind and plenty of snow, but Regina loved the late nights leading up to Christmas when she and Henry would sip hot cocoa and marathon episodes of whatever their favorite TV show was on Netflix. The first weeks of December were crazy for an elementary school teacher with a child, but she and Henry managed. Near the end of school in December would be Henry's Christmas band concert where Regina, Emma, and Neal watched him play his trumpet. Once Christmas break started, it was like letting go of a breath you had been holding for awhile. Netflix marathons happened nearly every night, and Christmas shopping started during the day. On December 23rd, Henry and Regina would have dinner at Emma and Neal's house. On Christmas Eve, Henry and Regina would bake apple turnovers together, even though Henry had stopped believing in Santa Clause years earlier. In January, the chaos of school would start up again and the wind would be even colder than before. On snow days, Regina and Henry would watch movies or play Mario Kart.

And in January, Regina met  _him_.

Technically, it was in the minutes  _before_  January. Emma and Neal were hosting their annual New Year's party with music so loud it kept Henry and Regina up way past midnight. But this year, Henry was at a friend's house, so Regina decided to finally accept one of the Cassidys' invitations.

_It was 11:30 pm. A half hour until 2017._

The blue-eyed man with the British accent stood next to Regina. "Most people would be with their 'true love' waiting to kiss them at midnight," he commented.

Regina shrugged. "I don't have a 'true love'. And the way you say that, I'm assuming you don't either?"

"Nah. Not anymore. I thought..." the man shook hid head. "Doesn't matter. It ended and she left me with our child because she wanted nothing to do with him or me. That's why we moved here from New York City. I'm Robin, by the way. Robin Locksley."

"Regina Mills. Nice to meet you, Robin."

"Ah. So you're the neighbor that Emma said never comes to the New Year's party."

Regina nodded. "That's me. My son and I usually stay at our house, but he went to a friend's house this year. So I figured there wasn't any harm in coming."

"You have a son too, yet you don't have anyone?" Robin asked.

"I adopted him," Regina explained. "I didn't see marrying someone in my future, and besides. If there's a kid out there who could possibly grow up alone, why not give him a home?"

Robin nodded. "That's the same reason I kept Roland after Marian left."

_11:35 pm, twenty-five minutes._

"How about I get you a drink?" Robin offered.

Regina raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Robin shrugged. "Why not?It's New Year's Eve, lighten up a bit."

"Fine." Regina gave in. Robin had a point; this was the one night she didn't have a son to go home to, so she should be able to do something for herself, just this once.

A few minutes later, Robin appeared again with two glasses of whiskey. He handed one to Regina and she noticed he had a lion tattoo on his forearm. She took the glass. "Thank you."

_11:45, fifteen minutes._

Regina and Robin joined the others down in Emma and Neal's basement, where their flatscreen TV was showing the countdown to 2017 in Times Square.

"Hello, Regina." Emma approached the two. "How have you been?"

"Good. I'm surprised you aren't with Neal."

"He's talking to David and Mary Margaret," Emma explained. "Did you know Mary Margaret is going to have a baby in July?"

Mary Margaret taught second grade in the same building where Regina taught, and the two had become friends, so of course Regina already knew, but she just nodded. "Yes."

Neal came up behind Emma and wrapped his arms around her, his head resting on her shoulder. "Hello."

"I thought you were talking to David and Mary Margaret?" Emma asked.

"I  _was_. But Lily wanted to talk to you."

"Better go talk to her, then." Emma smiled apologetically at Regina. "We can talk later."

Regina nodded as she watched Emma and Neal walk away. Regina may have been Emma's friend and neighbor, but Emma and Lily had been friends since elementary school.

_11:50 pm, ten minutes._

"Who's Mary Margaret?" Robin asked.

"A friend," Regina answered. "She teaches with me."

Regina spotted Emma and Neal talking to Lily and her boyfriend, August. You wouldn't expect that Lily and Emma could be such good friends, seeing as they could be polar opposites at times, but they somehow had one of the strongest friendships Regina had ever seen.

"You ready for 2017?" Robin asked, not really sure what else to say.

Regina shrugged. "Doesn't really matter to me anymore. It'll probably just be another year."

Robin nodded. "Probably."

_11:55 pm, five minutes._

Regina and Robin were watching the countdown with everyone else now. Most people were with their significant others. Emma and Neal, Mary Margaret and David, Lily and August, Belle and Mr. Gold. Regina and Robin were some of the few people who didn't have anyone.

"Four minutes," Robin said.

"I noticed."

Robin put his hands up in defense. "Just letting you know there's four minutes left of a year you'll never be in again."

Regina rolled her eyes. "You're being too sentimental."

"Three minutes."

Regina rolled her eyes again, but didn't say anything. She watched the numbers on screen count down every second. 2:46, 2:45, 2:44... Regina wondered if there was a slight chance 2017 would be any different than the rest of her life, but she shook the thought. Regina lived a normal life and worked a normal job. Nothing out of the ordinary happened except for when a student threw up in the middle of class or broke their wrist while playing at recess and had to be rushed to the hospital.

_11:59. People had begun to count down the seconds out loud._

"Enjoying your last moments of 2016?" Robin asked.

Regina met his eyes. She hadn't taken the time to study Robin much, but as her lips formed her answer–a simple "Yes"–she realized he was actually fairly handsome. His smirk was sort of charming to Regina, though it was equally annoying. His blue eyes were searching her brown ones, reading them. And her eyes were staring right back into his.

As the seconds counted down - 21, 20, 19, 18... - Regina gazed into the eyes of the man who would change her life, though she didn't know it then.

With ten seconds left, the two broke eye contact and looked at the TV screen again. The guests began chanting along with the people in Times Square. "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two!"

Regina felt anticipation fill her when she whispered, "One," while everyone else yelled it.

All of the couples at Emma and Neal's party kissed, including the hosts themselves.

"Happy New Year," Robin smiled at Regina, and she found the smile seemed to melt her insides.

"Happy New Year."

But neither of the two knew that this year would be the year that changed their lives.


	2. January (1)

_January 2017_   
**_(_ ** _part one ; january 1-15_ **_)_ **

Regina spent her New Year's Day mostly alone. Henry spent the day with his friend, doing who knows what, and Regina hadn't made any plans. She ended up deciding to watch  _Supergirl_ while grading the last of the papers she needed to grade over winter break.

She picked up Henry before supper time, and since most of their go-to restaurants were closed for New Year's, Regina put a pizza in the oven per Henry's request. Regina didn't care much for frozen pizza, but Henry loved it, so she'd grown used to it over the years.

As they waited for the timer to go off, signalling their dinner was ready, Henry told Regina all about what he and Nicolas had done to celebrate the New Year. Nicolas's twin sister, Ava, was at another friend's house, so it was just Henry, Nicolas, and Nicolas's dad. According to Henry, Nicolas said that Ava's friend - Grace - said a new girl would be attending their school after winter break.

After dinner, Henry and Regina watched a few episodes of  _Stranger Things_  before Henry made his way to his room to read until he fell asleep. Regina went to bed as well, and allowed her mind to wander, hoping that would somehow lull her to sleep.

Instead, she found herself thinking about Robin and the Cassidys' New Year's party. His striking blue eyes and his annoying smirk. Regina turned on her side and tried to clear her thoughts. The last thing she needed on her mind was Robin, or any guy for that matter.

**_(_ ** _~_ **_)_ **

Because of Christmas falling on a Sunday, school had let out for break on a Wednesday and returned on a Thursday. Henry wasn't too thrilled about having to go back to school before the other school systems in the area, but there wasn't anything Regina could do about that, so she coaxed him out of bed on the first day back at school by making chocolate chip pancakes - Henry's favorite.

As much as Henry didn't want to go back to school, he also didn't want to cause his mother to be late on the first day back, so he reluctantly got ready. They made it to school on time (on time for Regina, at least). It was a good thing because the principal, Mr. Midas, called Regina and Mary Margaret in for a meeting a few minutes after Regina arrived.

"Mrs. Nolan and Ms. Mills, thank you for coming. Over the break, I have been notified that a man going to college for elementary education has recently moved to the area and needs somewhere to do his student teaching. I was wondering if you would allow him to student teach in your classrooms? He would be in Ms. Mills' for six weeks, and then Mrs. Nolan's for eight weeks."

"Yes, of course that would be okay!" Mary Margaret exclaimed. The last time she had a student teacher - a Middle Eastern woman named Jasmine - the two had become friends almost immediately and they still were. Midas turned to Regina for her answer.

Regina nodded. "I would be okay with that."

Midas smiled. "Wonderful. He'll start next Monday, and will be here after school tomorrow so you can both meet him."

After school the next day, Regina and Mary Margaret walked down to the office together so they could meet the student teacher that would be spending fourteen weeks in their classrooms. They were talking in hushed voices until Regina looked up and saw who the student teacher was.

"Robin?"

"Regina," Robin offered her a smile. "I didn't know you were an elementary school teacher."

"I didn't know you were going to school to be an elementary school teacher."

"I take it you two have already met?" Midas asked as he emerged from his office. "I expect that will make this easier for you to work together."

"Of course," Robin replied respectfully. "I'm sure Regina and Mary Margaret will both be wonderful to work with." Robin looked over at Regina and smiled, which caused Regina to blush.

**_(_ ** _~_ **_)_ **

"So how was your day?" Regina asked as she set a plate of food down in front of Henry.

"Violet sat with us at lunch again today. She seems really nice." Violet had transferred into the school system over Christmas break and was neighbors with Grace Hatter, who Henry had been friends with since kindergarten.

"Well I guess it's a good thing you guys are friends with her. It's never a good thing when new kids get in with bad crowds."

Henry nodded in agreement and shoved a spoonful of mashed potatoes into his mouth. "What about you?" Henry asked after he swallowed. "How was your day? Who was that guy you were talking to in the office?"

"His name is R-- Mr. Locksley. He's going to student teach with Mrs. Nolan and I."

Henry groaned. "Does that mean he'll be there when I get done with school? I don't have anywhere else to go because your second graders get out of school a half hour after us!"

"You need to be nice to him, Henry. You haven't even met him yet. How'd you even know I was talking to him anyways?"

Henry's eyes widened and he stared down at his food. "Sometimes, I have nothing better to do than spy on teachers so I know all the teacher drama."

"You, mister, are going to have to start riding the bus."

"Please no," Henry pleaded in a small voice. "You know how much I hate the bus."

Regina shrugged. "You don't need to know all of the 'teacher drama'. Now, I expect you're going to be nice to Mr. Locksley when he starts his student teaching on Monday?"

Henry nodded. "Yes, yes. I'll be nice."

**_(_ ** _~_ **_)_ **

Monday rolled around and Robin Locksley arrived bright and early, not wanting to be late on his first day student teaching. Regina was already in her classroom, drinking a cup of coffee and looking at her computer screen while Henry rushed to finish his Algebra homework before it was time for him to walk to the high school, which was next door.

"Good morning, Milady."

Regina and Henry both looked up at Robin. Regina was smiling while Henry glared at him. But Robin didn't notice Henry's glare because he was only focused on Regina.

"Good morning, Robin." Regina set her mug down and stood up. "Henry, would you like to--?"

"I gotta go," Henry shoved his math notebook into his backpack and zipped it up before swinging it over his shoulder. "It's 8:20." He gave Regina a side hug, said goodbye, and walked out of the room without even glancing at Robin.

Robin raised an eyebrow at Regina.

"That's my son, Henry," Regina explained. "He's...not too sure about me having a student teacher. He's used to it being just me and him before and after school."

"Mr. Midas allows your son to be here before and after school?"

Regina nodded. "Yep. I've been bringing him since he started kindergarten. Now, he's old enough to stay at home alone and wait for the bus, but he refuses to ride the bus, so he still comes with me. So," Regina clapped her hands together, "you ready for your first day?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

A half hour later, the kids in Regina's class of second graders were all seated, quietly chattering amongst themselves, wondering who the man they'd never seen before was. After the morning announcements ended and the kids had quieted down, Regina spoke, "Good morning, everyone. I'm sure you've all noticed Mr. Locksley, here," Regina gestured to Robin. "He's a student teacher and will be with us for the next six weeks, and then he'll be in Mrs. Nolan's class for eight weeks. He's going to start out just observing my teaching style, but by the end of the six weeks, he will be teaching a lot by himself. But I'll still be here in the classroom with you. Now, I'll let Mr. Locksley introduce himself to you." Regina stepped backwards and Robin took that as his cue to step forwards so the class's attention was on him.

"As Ms. Mills said, I'm Mr. Locksley. I have a son who goes to kindergarten here and we just moved here from New York over the summer. I worked at an archery range in while in New York, but decided I wanted to go back to college to become a teacher. So, here I am. Any questions?"

**_(_ ** _~_ **_)_ **

"Mom," Henry looked up from his homework and set his pencil down, "where'd you meet Robin? You acted like you knew him before Mr. Midas introduced him to you and Mrs. Nolan."

"You know the New Year's party that the Cassidys throw every year?" Henry nodded and Regina continued speaking, "I went this year since you were at Ava and Nic's. I guess Emma or Neal knew him because he was there. We talked for a little while around midnight."

"Oh." Henry turned his focus back to his homework, but was only silent for a few minutes before he asked another question. "Is Robin going to start bringing Roland before and after school?"

Regina shrugged. "It's up to him. If he wants to, he'll probably asked Mr. Midas first. How'd you know his son's name? Not more spying, I hope."

Henry shook his head. "I asked Mrs. Nolan, because she teaches kindergarten and Robin said his son was in kindergarten. All I had to do was ask about kids with the last name of Locksley and she knew exactly who I was talking about."

"Sometimes, I worry you're too smart for your own good."

"If I was too smart, I'd have this stupid Algebra homework finished already," Henry pointed out.

Regina frowned and sat down next to her son. "Your teacher gave you homework over the long weekend?"

"Yup," Henry said, popping the 'p'. "Because 'we're honors students, and we should be able to handle it'," the boy rolled his eyes. "I only took honors Algebra because the older kids said it was just as easy as regular."

"Tell you what, why don't you take a break from your homework, and tonight, we can go see a movie? I know you've been wanting to see  _Rogue One_."

Henry's eyes lit up. "Really?! ...Is there something happening here that I don't know about?"

"What, can I not just take you to see a movie?"

Henry gave his mother a suspicious look. "Are you trying to soften the blow of some bad news?"

"No. Honestly. We've got a three day weekend because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and I wanted to do something special with you. So, what do you say,  _Rogue One_?"

"Only if we get Chick-fil-A afterwards."

"I think we can work that out."

Henry jumped up from his seat and grabbed his coat. Regina smiled to herself as she watched him hurriedly put it on and wrap his Gryffindor scarf around his neck.

**_(_ ** _~_ **_)_ **

On Sunday night, Henry plopped down on the couch next to Regina, who was waiting for the new  _Librarians_ episode, which would start in a few minutes. He leaned his head on his mother's shoulder and she smiled.

The weekend had been a good one. Regina was in a good mood for reasons she refused to confess to even herself, though Henry figured it had something to do with a certain student teacher. And since there was no school on Monday, Henry knew he would be able to stay up and watch the new  _Sherlock_  episode as well.

With scenes of Flynn Carsen and Sherlock Holmes still running through her mind, floating amongst her thoughts of Robin, Regina fell asleep with one sure thought;

2017 was already shaping up to be better than 2016.


	3. January (2)

_January 2017_  
**_(_ ** _part two ; january 16-31_ **_)_ **

January sixteenth was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which meant no school. Henry took the opportunity to sleep in until ten, while Regina woke up early to grade papers. She needed to finish grading the spelling tests from Friday.

At 10:05, Henry walked into the living room, still half asleep. "Morning," he mumbled.

Regina looked up at her son and smiled. "You sure you don't need to go back to sleep?"

Henry shook his head. "'m hungry. Wha's for breakfast?"

"Whatever you find in the kitchen," Regina replied before turning her attention back to the papers in front of her. Henry made his way to the kitchen and poured himself a bowl of Lucky Charms.

Regina and Henry spent the day at home, mostly because they didn't have any ideas of what else to do. They did, however, go out for dinner. Henry talked about school, avoiding the question he really wanted to ask because he didn't want to make his mom feel awkward. But Regina noticed that Henry was acting weird.

"Is there something bothering you?"

Henry responded too fast, "Nope."

Regina raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

Henry nodded, not speaking his answer this time.

"Henry, you know you can talk to me about anything."

Henry sighed before looking up at his mom. "Do you like Robin?"

"What?" Regina responded, the question catching her off guard. "No. No, he's just... we're just friends. Why?"

Henry shrugged. "You seem pretty close with him. And I need to know if you're gonna date someone, 'cause that last guy was a jerk."

"Graham? Yeah, he was. But Robin's not like that, and we're just friends anyways. You don't need to worry about it, Henry. We're only so close because we're working together."

"Mm-hmm." Henry took a sip of his water, the look on his face clearly revealing that he didn't believe Regina.

"Henry!"

"Sorry. I believe you. If you say you only like Robin as a friend, then you only like him as a friend."

"Thank you. And you need to call him Mr. Locksley around my students."

"I know, I know."

**_(_ ** _~_ **_)_ **

Tuesday began Robin's second week of student teaching. He brought Roland with him in the morning, which set Henry a little on edge because of how much Roland seemed to get along with Regina.

"You aren't jealous, are you?" Regina whispered as she hugged her son goodbye before he left for school.

"No!" Henry responded defensively.

"Mm-hmm. See you after school."

"See you later, Mom." Henry waved at his mom, Robin, and Roland before heading out of the classroom to begin his walk to the building next door.

**_(_ ** _~_ **_)_ **

The week went by smoothly. Henry stopped glaring at Robin and pretending Roland wasn't there. Regina knew he needed time to adjust to change, so she allowed him to have the time he needed and assured Robin that Henry didn't really hate him or his son.

That weekend, Henry spent Saturday with Nic and Ava's family, as they had invited Henry to go ice skating with them. Regina graded some papers and e-mailed Robin about the lesson plans for the upcoming week. It wasn't very exciting, but Regina was glad for the calm weekend.

**_(_ ** _~_ **_)_ **

The next week was fairly uneventful for both Robin and Regina as well. Henry, however, found himself in a dilemma of his own. Of course, he wasn't going to say anything about it to his mom.

Henry had been friends with Grace Hatter since kindergarten. They had been next door neighbors until sixth grade, and Grace was the perfect Girl Next Door. It was always Grace and Henry. Henry and Grace. They were the kids who would grow up, get married, have kids, and grow old in the same small town where they were raised.

Then Violet Morgan walked into Storybrooke High School in a light purple dress and a genuine smile on her face, like it wasn't sucking all the joy out of her life to at school so early the first day back from Christmas break. She had smiled at Henry, and Henry had felt something...different. It was different than Grace, because Violet was new. And Violet wasn't the Girl Next Door. Violet was Veronica Lodge, Grace was Betty Cooper, and Henry was Archie Andrews. Stuck in between the girl he'd been friends with since forever and the new mystery in town. Also, Henry was definitely too into the new TV show based on the  _Archie_  comics -  _Riverdale_.

And just Henry's luck, the Valentine's dance was next month and it was clear everyone expected him to ask someone to the dance. But not only did Henry not know who he truly wanted to be with (or if either Grace or Violet wanted to be with him), but he wasn't sure his mother would even allow him to go.

**_(_ ** _~_ **_)_ **

That Friday, before Henry left for school, he made a split-second decision. Regina had gone to the office to copy some papers, meaning it was only Henry, Roland, and Robin in the classroom. Roland was absorbed in his coloring book at the moment, so he wouldn't pay any attention to Robin and Henry.

"Hey," he said as he passed by where Robin was sitting. He kept his voice low in case Regina was nearing the classroom. "Just so you know, my mom's birthday is next Wednesday. I know she won't tell you that herself, so I figured I would."

Robin looked up at Henry, trying to decipher the boy's expression. Was Henry trying to tell him he expected Robin to get something? Or was he assuming Robin would want to know when Regina's birthday was? Or that Regina would want Robin to get her something? But Henry had the perfect emotionless expression, so Robin simply said, "Thank you for letting me know." Henry nodded and walked out of the classroom.

Robin frowned. He wanted to do something for Regina on her birthday, but  _what_? What would she like? He hadn't known her long enough to know what kind of present she would want.

Well, he'd better pay very close attention the next few days because he needed to find some sort of present.

**_(_ ** _~_ **_)_ **

January Thirty-First. It was January Thirty-First - the day before Regina's birthday - and Robin still had no clue what to get her. Why did it even matter so much to him? Why couldn't he just get her a card like any normal person would?

Of course, deep down, Robin knew the answer to his question, but he wasn't ready to admit it to himself yet.

A small voice shook Robin from his thoughts, "Papa?"

"Yes, my boy?" Robin turned is attention to his son.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just, it's Ms. Mills' birthday tomorrow and I don't know what present I should get for her. ...Do you have any ideas?"

Roland looked up at the ceiling, clearly trying to think of something Regina would like. "She likes sour candy!"

"Sour candy?" Robin questioned.

Roland nodded. "Henry told me. He said she likes Sour Patch Kids and Warheads and..." Roland frowned, "I don't remember the rest."

"That's okay. I know what to get her. Are you too tired for a quick trip to the store?"

Roland shook his head confidently. "No! I'll stay awake!"

"Okay, then I guess we're off to buy some sour candy."


End file.
